May 16, 2020
By Matthew Cappuci
Average path length of tornadoes within 25 miles of a point. Note that while the greatest density of tornadoes occurs in Oklahoma, tornadoes in Mississippi carve longer tracks, and the risk of being impacted there is greater. Tornado data between 1950 and 2018 was utilized.
Anyone who’s ever seen the movie “Twister” (click here) is aware of Tornado Alley — known for its reliable and, at times, hyperactive swarms of tornadoes that swirl across the landscape like clockwork each spring. The term brings to mind the strip of land stretching across Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska and the Dakotas. But meteorologists fear that imaginary zone may be leaving out areas at an even greater risk for damaging tornadoes.
In recent years, the South has come to prominence for its encounters with violent tornadoes. As recently as Easter weekend, an outbreak of more than 150 tornadoes wrought havoc across Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee and even into the Carolinas. A week later, a high-end EF4 tornado struck near the previous hardest-hit counties in Mississippi, marking the third EF4 to hit within a 15-mile radius over the course of seven days....
